The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Monday, February 12, 1900. THE BOERS AND THE BLACKS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1900, Page 2

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Monday, February 12, 1900. THE BOERS AND THE BLACKS.

♦ According to a London cablegram the Boers employed armed natives m their fighting line at Vaalkrantz, the position captured the other day by the Durham Light Infantry. Commenting upou this the London Daily Chronicle remarks that if the Boers continue to arm the blacks Great Britain may consider the question of employing Indian troops for garrison and police duties. This question of employment of blacks, by either side m the present struggle, has frequently been discussed since the outbreak of the war. It is an extremely serious matter. So far, not only have the British abstained from employing Kaffirs, Zulus, and other South African blacks, save for transport service, but they have used the most strenuous and sincere efforts to prevent the Basutos and other native tribes from entering the campaign against the Boers on their own account. The Basutos and Swazis botb hate the Boers with a depth of detestation which it id difficult for those unacquainted with South African history to fully comprehend. The fact is that both these tribes have been most vilely oppressed by the Dutch, who attempted to enslave them, who raided their settlements and robbed them of their cattle, and who, had it not been for British intervention, would have annexed Swaziland to the Transvaal and Basutoland to the Free State. There is little fear, we believe, of either Basutos or Swazis joining with the Boers m conflict against the British, but it is possible that some of the Zulus and other northern tribes may have been led away by promises of high pay into fighting on the Dutoh side. On the other hand it is just probable that the blaoks who are reported to have fought for the Boers at Vaalkrantz were commandeered, or " pressed " men, who, after previously acting as transport drivers and so forth, were compelled by their Boer employers to take up arms and join, however unwillingly, m the fray. We sincerely hope that this explanation of the affair may prove to be correct, but with the South Afrioan blacks, as with most native races, mana or prestige counts for much, and a desire to be on the winning side, however conflicting with their ideas of gratitude and old friendship, may be proving superior to all other oonsiderations. It is notorious that the Boers have used every endeavor to win over the Zulus and other tribes and to induce them to revolt against British rule, but up to the present, although there have been rumors of sulkiness and disaffection, the blacks have, as a whole, resisted all the Boer seductions. Now that there is a strong probability of the tide of war turning rapidly m favor of the British, Boer attempts to win over the blacks ought to be even less successful than' they have been m the past. When Ladysmitb, on the one side, is relieved by Buller's forces and Roberts invades the Free States, the blacks, who have their own means of communicating news, will not be blind to the fact that the day of defeat and humiliation for the Boers is approaohing, and there will then be no danger whatever of their assisting the enemy. In the meantime, however, the threat voiced by the London Daily Ohroniole of bringing Indian troops to do garrison and police work, thus relieving a large number of white troops for active field service, may not be without its value as a hint to the Boers of what they may expeot if they bribe or force the blaoka into participation m fighting on their side. But our own opinion is that the blacks who fought for the Boers at Vaal Krantz were "commandeered" camp servants, and that the inoident is not a sign of any wholesale black revolt against British rule,